One in four calls to police 101 line go unanswered in the West Midlands

There were 485,937 calls to the 101 number where fed-up callers gave up because they did not get an answer since the start of 2018 - nearly a quarter of total calls to the service.

An abandoned call is defined as when someone hangs up before being connected to a police operator.

In 2018, the figures show that 339,741 calls were abandoned and in 2019, up to September, 146,196 calls were abandoned.

One caller waited on the phone for three hours and 10 minutes before getting an answer. The longest wait so far this year was one hour and 42 minutes.

The average time for calls to be picked up is just over three minutes.

People are advised to dial 101 if they are not reporting an emergency, as an alternative to 999. This can include burglaries, stolen cars, criminal damage and antisocial behaviour.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act showed there were a huge number frustrated callers hanging up before getting through. Since the start of 2018 the force received 1,944,702 calls to 101. During the same period there were 485,937 abandoned calls.

'Deeply worrying'

Councillor Wendy Thompson, who leads the Conservatives in Wolverhampton, said: "If people need to get through to the police these things should be efficient. Who is to say what is an emergency and what is not? Some people don't like to make a fuss."

Ian Jenkins, from the Wolverhampton Liberal Democrats branded the figured "deeply worrying" and said it raised questions about how many people don't bother to report crimes.

He said: “These figures are deeply worrying. It certainly doesn't help the relationship between the police and the public.

“Some of the issues may not be an emergency but will be serious and important issues, so we want the public to be able to get through. If someone picks up the phone and calls the police, the least they expect is someone to pick up the phone.

“It just leaves me wondering how many people are the victims of crime in our area who just give up and never report their crimes."

Chief Superintendent Richard Fisher, head of force contact at West Midlands Police, said: “The figure of 485,937 abandoned calls will include cases where contractors or other visitors have used phones at entrances to stations, and calls which are transferred to an extension but go unanswered before returning, and internal unanswered calls which revert into the call centre after ringing out.

“In terms of purely calls from the public asking for our service, there were 298,977 abandoned calls.

“But abandoned calls from the public will include people who have called and heard our messaging promoting our Live Chat and web reporting tools and so have decided to end the call and go online instead. We’re now dealing with 16,000 Live Chat sessions each month.

“We’re continuing to work hard to improve the service we offer to the public and a key part of that is highlighting the different ways they can get in touch with us - whether that’s by phone or online."